Challenging the notion that violence simply breeds more violence, this study argues that in Argentina violence led to trauma, and that trauma led to more violence. It analyzes the historical dynamic through which Argentina became entangled in a web of violence spun out of repeated traumatization of political adversaries.

Combining history and anthropology, this compelling book rests on thorough archival research; participant observation of mass demonstrations, exhumations, and reburials; gripping interviews with military officers, guerrilla commanders, human rights leaders, and former disappeared captives. Robben's penetrating analysis of the trauma of Argentine society is of great importance for our understanding of other societies undergoing similar crimes against humanity.